KUCHING, Jan 11: Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)’s Faculty of Human Ecology will be organising an online Intellectual Discourse forum session on Jan 22, 2021 (Friday) to discuss the responses of the Dayak community towards the coming 12th State Election.
According to UPM in a statement today, the dialogue session will be held using the online Zoom platform from 10am until 12pm.
“This forum is specially organised to discuss how Dayak would respond to the 12th State Elections with topics such as what do they want, what are their important issues, and more importantly, how will they caste their votes in the upcoming 12th State Election,” it said.
The statement noted, the 12th Sarawak Election will be called no later than June this year, and the august House is expected to automatically dissolve by then to pave way to elect 82 assemblymen.
It also noted many are of the opinion that the Malay or Melanau voters are safe with the present ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), while the Chinese will oscillate between the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP), and some may side with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).
“But many believe that the gamechanger will be the Dayak community that is expected to provide the spark for an exciting 12th State Elections,” the statement read.
The forum will see a discussion involving four panelists, namely Datuk Dr Madeline Berma of the Academy of Sciences of Malaysia, Associate Professor Dr Novel Lyndon of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Director of Institute of Borneo Studies, University of Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Associate Professor Dr Poline Bala, and Dr Lucy Sebli Seidelson of Unimas’ Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.
It will be moderated by Prof Dr James Chin (Professor of Asian Studies) from University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia, and Prof Dr Jayum Jawan, who is the Dean Faculties of Humanities, Management and Sciences, UPM Bintulu, as the discussant.
Those interested may register online through https://forms.gle/HBdfh4LWMzySw3vc9, and join the forum using a Zoom platform by entering the meeting identification number; 943 2624 3876, with the password; ID22JAN. — DayakDaily
